diff --git a/hw/dixie/analysis.nix b/hw/dixie/analysis.nix
index 957c645..6d19994 100644
--- a/hw/dixie/analysis.nix
+++ b/hw/dixie/analysis.nix
@@ -94,9 +94,11 @@ in
     };
 
     # --- analysis packages ----------------------------------------------------
+    # DuckDB CLI only. The analysis layer is DuckDB + Parquet; Python (pyarrow,
+    # polars) drags in arrow-cpp + llvm-dev (~1 GB of downloads) and is avoided
+    # unless a specific job forces it. Add it back per-job when needed.
     environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
       duckdb
-      (python3.withPackages (p: with p; [ duckdb pyarrow polars ]))
     ];
 
     # --- Postgres 17 + Timescale + PostGIS + h3-pg ----------------------------